"Your Majesty, Governor Wang has something important to come to you for!" Just as Zhao Yu and Zhuang Gong were talking about the rise of the two of them for a possible peace negotiation, a small yellow door came in and said.

"See you!" Zhao Yu frowned when he heard this. It was not because Wang Yinglin's visit at this time disturbed his interest, but because he was in charge of the civil affairs of the newly restored land, responsible for guiding local officials to establish local political power, coordinating military-political relations, clearing land and demarcating borders, relocating the people, restoring the economy, and so on, and also assisting him in handling the affairs of the army. And he also trusted him very much, delegating to him the power of appointing and dismissing local officials below the fifth grade, and had the right to deal with urgent affairs, so he was still a little surprised by his sudden visit.

"Subordinates retire!" Zhuang Gong has been in the palace for many years, so he naturally knows that there are times when he should avoid it, and it is not appropriate to observe, so he retreats.

"No need, you can listen to it too!" Zhao Yu waved his hand.

"Your Majesty, Haizhou Urgent News has been invaded by bandits, Donghai County has been captured by bandits, and Huairen County has been besieged by bandits, the situation is very tense, please send troops to rescue as soon as possible!" After Wang Yinglin gave the salute, he didn't care about wiping the sweat on his forehead, so he made a report.

"It can be found out whether it is the remnants of Mengyuan or the bandits!" Zhao Yu's brows furrowed even tighter, he knew that due to the urgency of the war, the forbidden army and the escort army were advancing rapidly after seizing the prefecture and county, and the aftermath was handed over to the follow-up army and the receiving magistrate, so there were very few garrisons in the rear.

Haizhou was first recovered by the Second Naval Division, but they were ordered to attack and harass Mengyuan Qingzhou, so that the enemy did not dare to send reinforcements, so the main garrison of Haizhou was only a small number of Second Naval Division garrisons in addition to the local Xiang Army. The Xiang army is weak in terms of equipment and combat, and it is only responsible for maintaining law and order in the rear, clearing out the remnants and escorting the baggage, which is difficult to deal with the main force of the Mengyuan army, even if it is a large group of remnants, it will be very difficult.

"Your Majesty, it is reported that they are bandits, they are dressed differently, and the weapons they use are also complicated, each of them is different, and they are mixed with the rout. The minister thought that it should belong to several bandits, and there might be a scattered Mengyuan soldier to join it. Wang Yinglin replied.

"Oh, bandits can raid the state and plunder the mansion, break the city, and kill the court officials, that is a rebellion, not just some rogue thieves!" Zhao Hao said angrily.

"Your Majesty is right, they can be called thieves. There were more than 100 warships and no less than thousands of pirates from the sea, and they landed in the East China Sea in the darkness of the night, climbed into the city, and opened the city gates. Only 200 troops and the newly recruited Ding Zhuang defended the city, and Wang Pan, the county governor, led his troops to be killed, and only a few people took advantage of the chaos to escape and report the news. After the bandits plundered the city, they took a boat to cross the sea and land, but were temporarily blocked outside the port by the officers and soldiers left behind by the navy; The number of bandits besieging Huairen County is even larger, roughly more than 2,000, and most of them ride mules and horses, coming and going like the wind, and the details are unknown. The defenders did not dare to go out of the city to meet the battle, so they could only defend the city and send people to Haizhou for help. Wang Yinglin replied.

"To be able to gather so many people, it is not possible to gather overnight, it must be disobedient to the management of our dynasty, and some people will rebel, why didn't the place notice it at all!" Zhao Yu looked at Wang Yinglin and said.

"It's the minister's inspector who is unfavorable, please punish Your Majesty!" Wang Yinglin was ordered to manage the local civil affairs, and now that something happened, of course, the board would hit him first, and he hurriedly pleaded guilty.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates think that this should be done by Lu Di Liukou, not by the unfavorable local governance!" At this time, Zhuang Gongcong interjected.

"Liukou, such a large group of Liukou exists, how can Meng Yuan not send troops to exterminate it, but let it become bigger!" Zhao Yu shook his head and said.

"Your Majesty should have heard of it, Lu Di Duo Kou said, since the Qin and Han dynasties, the historical records are endless, every time there is a war or a famine, the crowd will rise out, the horses roar to gather in the mountains and forests to rob the merchants, the water robbers are rampant in the lake, and a large group of bandits can fight against the official army. The previous dynasties also sent troops to clean up, but there were still bandits, and the slightest change would swarm again, becoming a big disaster! Zhuang Gong said.

"......" Zhao Yu was stunned, he had never read it from the history books, but in his previous life, he knew that the heroes of Wagangzhai in "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" and the heroes of Liangshan in "Water Margin" were all from Shandong.

"What Shi Kai said is good, according to the record of the "Continuation of Capital and Governance Tongjian", there are many thieves in the Luxi region during my dynasty, there are thieves in Juancheng, Shanzhou, Jinxiang, Juye, there are thieves in Qi and Yuncheng, and thieves in Jingdong are swarming everywhere, etc., although the imperial court is trying its best to suppress, but every twenty or thirty years, there will be a group of thieves again, and they will be suppressed repeatedly." Wang Yinglin nodded yes.

"Ludi is also the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and the people have been educated by the saints, why has it become a place where bandits are rampant?" Zhao Hao said with some amusement, there is really no one who has such a high frequency of bandit outbreaks in the land of Confucius and Mencius.

"Your Majesty, although Lu is the birthplace of Confucius and Mencius, the Mo family also originated in Lu, and the thieves who are regarded as their ancestors are also Lu people. The Mohists take 'everything is more precious than righteousness' for their purpose, and those who engage in debate are called 'ink debate', and those who are engaged in martial arts are called 'ink heroes'. The Mo family declined in later generations, but it was also well known to the Lu people. Therefore, it has gradually become a trend for the Lu people to value righteousness over profit, to do the right thing for heaven, and to make friends with force. And in order to gather people's hearts, the bandits are the most important words, so that when someone raises his arms and waves, he will follow like a cloud. Wang Yinglin said.

"In addition, Ludi is a land of a hundred battles, and the people are martial. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Qi was known for its long-tech attack, and "Xunzi Yibing" contained: Qi people were long-skilled, and their skills were also, and those who got a song were given ransom gold. "Yanzi Spring and Autumn Inner Miscellaneous" contains: Qi people are very good at hub attacks, and they are happy to commit crimes, and they are not stopped. The article "The Three Gates of Jeju Longquan Temple" written by Wang Yuyan of our dynasty is also called Shandong Juye: the folk customs are fierce, and the rate is normal. Therefore, the people are martial and aggressive, and Ren Xia violates the ban with martial arts, which also contributes to this trend. ”

"I see!" The corners of Zhao Hao's mouth couldn't help twitching, this Mohist ideology and spirit provided an ideological shield for the Qilu people to violate the ban on righteousness, and the martial habits contributed to the prevalence of the 'thief' culture, which is undoubtedly the direct support for the repeated robbers.

"The subordinates think that Ludi Duokou is mainly caused by the famine!" Zhuang Gongcong continued, "As far as my subordinates know, the thieves in Shandong are few in Ludong, but more in Luzhong and Luxi. The people of Luzhong and Luxi are mainly engaged in farming, but floods, waterlogging and drought disasters are frequent and severe. In addition, the population of Ludi is relatively dense, and most of them are more than 10,000 households. In every time there is a great disaster, there will be a large-scale famine, and once the government does not provide relief, the people will either be left in a foreign land or will have to become thieves in groups. ”

"Well, that's the right solution. In recent decades, the Yellow River has been plagued frequently, coupled with the violent conquest of the Meng and Yuan dynasties, and the people are not able to make a living, so it is not surprising that the robbers have swarmed. And at the moment that Mengyuan was defeated, our army had just recovered Haizhou, and all parties had weak control over this place, so it was logical for them to take advantage of the situation. Zhao Yu nodded. And there is an answer to why the thieves who attacked Haizhou this time rode mules and horses.

Shandong is the name of modern times, and it was mostly called the land of Qilu in ancient times. Anyone who has studied geography knows that Shandong's mountains and rivers are intertwined, and the terrain is extremely complex, and this geographical environment is conducive to rebellion. There are many hills in Shandong Province, especially in central Shandong, where the hills are dense and continuous. Jiaodong Peninsula is second, Luxi is the least, with plains in the majority, although the mountains are continuous, but there are many traffic channels between the mountains and the mountains. In addition, the river network is intertwined and the lakes are dense, which is conducive to thieves to a certain extent. In this kind of terrain, it is very easy for bandits and robbers to come and go, which has caused great difficulties for the officers and soldiers to advance and suppress.

First of all, if the officers and soldiers pursued the thieves with a large force, the thieves' ships would be able to make a small U-turn and quickly take advantage of the low hills to scatter and evade. After all, the mountains are not high, and it takes a quarter of an hour to climb a mountain of five or six hundred meters. If you are riding a horse, the mountain road is not steep and you can escape quickly, and if the ridgeline is gentle and the valley is wide, you can use horses. If you cross the pass from the side of the mountain, you can even travel on horseback.

Secondly, at the beginning of the uprising, the bandits were not many in number, and if they could win, they would fight, and if they could not win, they would retreat, and they scattered into the hilly and mountainous areas, and it was extremely difficult for large troops to pursue them. Even if it catches up with it and invisibly reduces the numerical advantage, it is difficult to win the killing. This situation determined that the Shandong thieves relied more on horses in the mode of transportation to increase the speed of maneuvering. The more horses there are, the greater the fame, and the deeper the impression left on the official and the people.

The needs of the situation forced the Shandong thieves to buy and loot horses everywhere, and to and from many provinces, they undoubtedly had to rely on horsepower for the purpose of circulation. And horse thieves come and go like the wind, it is extremely difficult to pursue, so although there are not many horses in Shandong, once the thieves collect horses and develop into a horse team, it is easy to create the illusion of rampant horses. After coming and going, bandits everywhere competed to follow suit, and the name of the horse gradually came out.

This kind of tactics similar to guerrilla warfare is very effective when the enemy is strong and we are weak, and when the famous monk of the Qing Dynasty in Zhao Yuji exterminated the Shandong Twist Army, he was dragged down step by step by the Twist Army equipped with war horses, lured into an ambush circle and killed in battle. When he was in Qiongzhou, he also taught the salt lords and the rebel army in Fujian and Guangzhou to use this tactic to deal with the Yuan army, and gradually developed and expanded, laying the foundation for the capture of Jiangnan.

Now that he is facing the flow of entry, Lu Kou, who is like the wind, has a headache for Zhao Hao, and if he wants to exterminate them, he will have to pursue them across the border, which will inevitably lead to a battle with Meng Yuan, especially in this sensitive period. But bandits don't care who you are, and it's a common practice for them to use the border to avoid pursuit. And thieves often collude with each other, scattering for the people, gathering for bandits, there is a chance to make a fortune and can fight together, it is difficult to extinguish.

But what made Zhao Hao even more puzzled was why there were a large number of pirates, knowing that they usually roamed between the lakes and rivers, using small and flexible boats, which were difficult to resist the wind and waves at sea, so he had to suspect that the pirates had another way......